Lenny Megliola: Moving on from baseball's Steroids Era

Lenny Megliola

Sunday

Feb 22, 2009 at 12:01 AMFeb 22, 2009 at 10:00 PM

You’re crazy about the game. You always have been. You’ve grown up with it and had every intention of growing old with it, with no diminishing returns taken from it. That was baseball’s stance in your life. There’s no question that being true to the game is a lot harder these days. You still love it, but it’s like finding out your husband or wife has had an affair. You’re angry, disillusioned, but you sill love your spouse.

You’re crazy about the game. You always have been. You’ve grown up with it and had every intention of growing old with it, with no diminishing returns taken from it.

That was baseball’s stance in your life.

There’s no question that being true to the game is a lot harder these days. You still love it, but it’s like finding out your husband or wife has had an affair. You’re angry, disillusioned, but you sill love your spouse.

You may even forgive, although you’ll never forget. It may be a one-time thing, this affair. You’d hope, anyway. The marriage continues, maybe even flourishes. The healing process works.

That’s how I’m looking at baseball. I’ll let it heal itself from the steroids era, the mistress of deceit in the relationship between the players and the game, primarily its fans.

No matter how many more players are implicated (let’s see that list with the other 103 names, please), I’m thinking this is the beginning of the end. Baseball players may not be known for their brightness, but wouldn’t they have to be really stupid to try steroids now? And, if you’ve been a user, wouldn’t you really, REALLY be stupid to continue?

I’m ready to move on. I’m sure many are not. The betrayal hurts. Any player who never hit more than 12 or15 homers in a season suddenly belts 28 or 30. And what are you going to think? ‘Roids guy.

A player puts on 20 ripped pounds. You’re not thinking he must have spent all winter at Gold’s Gym. They don’t pump iron any more. They pump pills and spread cream.

But they’re not all cheaters. You have to believe that, without knowing it for a fact. Know what I mean? Most of the players still get stronger the old-fashioned way, by going to the gym, pumping iron and following a trainer’s regimen.

Then came steroids and HGH, easier ways to get stronger. It’s been a nightmare, top to bottom, the top being commissioner Bud Selig, who screams, “Don’t blame me, the bottom being the minor leaguers who’ve been caught before they get to The Show.” And of course the players’ union, which has wink-winked through the whole sordid mess, thinking the great McGwire-Sosa race was what America wanted.

We did buy into it completely. We didn’t spend a lot of time wondering why 50 home runs suddenly wasn’t uncommon and hitting 70 was possible. This was great for the game. Now McGwire and Sosa are recluses. And truly shamed.

It was just the beginning. Then came Bonds and Clemens and Palmeiro, all of them in denial, all of them Cooperstown material. Then came the admitters -- Pettitte, Tejeda and A-Rod -- the biggest fish of them all.

I know, you’re sick of it.

And yet you just can’t drop baseball off at the recycling center. Anything that can give you EIGHT months of pleasure every year, that’s hard to turn your back on.

You may look at the game differently, but you’ll still watch. You’ll have your reasons.

If a shortstop makes a great diving stab of a streaking ground ball and throws the runner out at first, you’re not wondering if he made that play because he’s using HGH. A terrific fadeaway slide at home plate to score the winning run: Do you need to being taking something illegal to do that? A 175-pound pitcher takes a no-hitter into the eighth inning … Does it mean he’s on the juice?

Baseball may have robbed your trust. Don’t let it steal the basic pleasure of going to a game with a couple of pals on a sultry July night, a cold one in one hand and a hot dog in the other.

All those players aren’t cheaters. That’s a good thing to keep in mind. And so is this: It’s going to get better only because it has to. The baseball mess isn’t like trying to fix the economy, with all of its deep complexities.

Fear is a powerful thing, and baseball players should be scared straight by what’s going on, by the career-threatening penalties they’d face if they cheat the game.

We call it the Steroids Era. It doesn’t have to have legs.

Baseball has survived a crooked World Series, strikes, gambling and cocaine scandals and mascots dancing on dugouts. It might take some hard swallowing, but it’ll get through this too. I’ll betcha.

Lenny Megliola is a Daily News columnist. His e-mail is lennymegs@aol.com

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